Improved eaileoad-eail



No. 77,039.- PATENTED APR. -21,' 1868. J. H. HERMAN. RAILROAD RAIL.

,niteh tales gaunt ffitt.

rem Patent No. 77,039, dated April 21,1868.

improves RAILROAD-RAIL.

slit: rlgebnl2 reform is lllllltit rims fiatmtnntmntiug part of the state.

no ALL WHOM IT MAY concnnm Be it knoivn that I, JQHEN'RY HERMAN, of Bosto n, in the county of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts,

have invented snlmprovement in Rails, for Street-Railways, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact descriptiomreferenee being had to the a'ccompanying'drawings, making part of this specification, in which-i Figures 1 and 2 are perspective views of rails having rny improvement applied thereto.

Figure 8 is a section on the line 2:; of figfll. V Considernblediflioulty is often experienced. in replacing street-railroad curs upon the truck when nocidenh nlly thrown oil, and it frequently becomes necessary to draw them for a long distance over the pavements before the wheels will take the proper direction to insure their running up on to the rails, thus severely jolting'thepassengers, and tending to injure and strain the our and the horses.

This invention has for its object to'overcome these difiioulties, and nli'ord a. ready and convenient means of replacing the cars upon the track; and consists in a rail provided on one or hoth sides with a projection, having an inclined groove leading up on to thoraili'or the purpose of receiving and guiding the-flanges or the'cerwheels into their proper position upon the track.

To enable others skilled in the art to understand and use my in.ventiori,1 will proceed to describe the manner in which I have carried it out. p p

"In thesaid drawings,- A, fig. 1, represents an ordinary street-railroad rail, of that description usually laid downin paved streets. On the outside of.this rail is formed a projection, a, which is curved or inclined outward from thepoint 4 to the point 5, and upward from 5 to 6, where it is provided with a groove, 6, which also extends across a portion of the uppersurface of the rail.

When a car has been thrown from the track, and it is desired to replace it, it is merely necessary to drive it up close to the rail, so that the flange oi' o'no of the wheels will strike the projection a at the point 5, when it will follow the inclined grove b up into its proper position ripen the rail, the wheel at thevoth er extremity oi the axle at the some time striking a grooved projection, e, on the inside of theopposite rail, which serves to guide it-into its place in a manner similar to the" projection a. As each rail is provided on its outer side with one of these grooved projections, knit will be seen that it is-only necessary to drive the car, when oil" the track, a'

very short distance in order to cause one of the wheels to come into contact with a projection which will insure its'b'eing replaced upon the track, thus avoiding the necessity of drawing the car for a long distance over the pavements, us is frequently the case where the erdinnry rails are employed. The groove 1; may, if desired, he made to extend only as for es the outer edge of the rail, instead of across it, as seen in the drawing. The angle, however, at which it crosses the rail is suiiiciently acute to prevent the wheel from dropping into the groove during the ordinary passage of a car,'nnd the conenssion is thereforo so slight as to he hardly perceptible. The grooved projection c, on the inside of the rail, may heglispcnsed with, if desired, as that a, on the outside, will answer well if nsedalone. In fig. .3 is represented a (F-rail, having my improvement applied thereto,-th'e.prc-- jections dand e being similar to those on the rail A, shove described.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is v A railroad-rail, having an inclined projection, on one or both sides, provided with a gro0ve,,for the purpose of guiding the car wheel up into its proper position upon the'track, substantially as set forth. a

' 'J. HENRY HERMAN.

Witnesses v P. E. Tssonnm'cnss,

N. ,W.. Brsssns. 

